[2] The roadside hawk was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[4][5] The roadside hawk is now the only species placed in the genus Rupornis that was introduced in 1844 by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup.

It is fairly common to observe a touch of rufous (i.e., a light reddish-brown) on the bird's wings, especially when seen in flight.

[11] In flight, the relatively long tail and disproportionately short wings of the roadside hawk are distinctive.

With the possible exception of dense rainforests, the roadside hawk is well adapted to most ecosystems in its range.

Mixed-species feeding flocks it encounters when hunting in open cerrado habitat are not particularly wary of it: they watch it lest the hawk come too close, but consider them hardly more of a threat than the diminutive American kestrel.

While perch hunting, a hawk will drop or glide down from an elevated position to capture their prey.